Wall Street opens higher boosted by upbeat data and positive sentiment

Major equity indexes in the U.S. started the last day of the week sharply higher boosted by the strong employment data from the U.S. and the risk appetite returning to markets. As of writing, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 were both up 1.4% while the Nasdaq Composite was adding 1.5% on the day.

The data published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday showed that nonfarm payrolls in the U.S. rose by 312K in December to come in much above the market expectation of 177K. The labour force participation rate and the average hourly earnings both showed improvements in the same period.

Out of 11 major S&P 500 sectors, utilities is the only sector that's in the negative territory in the early trade. Among gainers, energy, materials, financials, and technology are all up around 2%.